


i will wake you up

by yaboyhide



Category: Tokyo Ghoul
Genre: Coffee Shops, M/M, au where nobody's sad, that's it that's the au how fuck edu p
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-04
Updated: 2017-09-04
Packaged: 2018-12-23 18:47:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11995806
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yaboyhide/pseuds/yaboyhide
Summary: AU where Kaneki isn't a half-ghoul that's bad at making cofee, he's just a human who's bad at making coffee. Hide doesn't mind so much.





	i will wake you up

**Author's Note:**

> title taken from fun.'s "out on the town" aka my go-to hidekane song

Hide hates mornings. Hates them so much he would rather eat a jar of centipedes if it meant he never has to get up before ten in the morning ever again. But he’s had zero luck finding anyone who can make this happen, so the jar of centipedes, regretfully, will have to wait.

In the meantime, however, there is one small silver lining: Kaneki, the adorable barista at the coffee shop just down the block from Hide’s apartment. He stops by in the mornings on the way to school when he can, usually to flirt. Being a broke college student with no parents and, therefore, no allowance, means his hard-earned money either goes towards bills or school supplies before they go toward frivolous things like coffee and sometimes even groceries. His new job at Big Girl as a line cook pays him all right, all things considered, and when the paychecks start rolling in, he’s gonna be able to visit that coffee shop (what was the name again? Anteiku, that’s right) a lot more often.

In fact, he decides, staring in the mirror at the dark circles under his eyes, it’s a treat ya self kind of day. It’s gonna be a long one, after all; two reports due (that he still has to finish -- yikes) and a presentation (already finished, thank god), and then an eight-hour shift at Big Girl to finish.

_Yeah, I definitely deserve that coffee._

*

It’s an early Tuesday morning, which means that Kaneki is nearing his Friday at the coffee shop. (Hide definitely does not know Kaneki’s schedule by heart, no way, just that he’s there on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, but never Thursdays; Fridays are a hit or miss, depending on if anyone else called out, and Saturday through Monday, Kaneki is never in.)

Despite the early hour, Hide is in rather good spirits as he nearly crashes through Anteiku’s door in his half-asleep state. The smell of coffee and the warmth soothes him and nearly puts Hide back to sleep in an instant, dead on his feet, but the sweet “Good morning!” directed at him from none other than Kaneki has him awake in an instant. He almost doesn’t need the coffee at this point, because Kaneki smiling at him like they’re almost friends ( _we could be friends,_ Hide thinks) gives him more vigor than any cup of coffee.

“How are you today, Hide?” Kaneki asks. His hair is short and black and unstyled, but it complements his round face and big brown eyes, giving him a boyish charm despite his being the same age as Hide. Kaneki is already moving to make Hide’s cappuccino, still a little clumsy in his movements but getting better every time Hide visits.

“M’okay,” Hide mumbles, watching Kaneki’s lean fingers as he steams the milk. It’s the distraction of the thing that makes him mumble more than any lingering sleepiness, and if Kaneki notices, he politely ignores it. Hide doesn’t like being ignored. “Better now that I’m here.”

Kaneki nearly drops the milk.

“Hide!” Kaneki scolds, blushing furiously as he sets the steaming pitcher down. 

His hands folded behind his head, Hide laughs.This is hardly the first time he’s tried a line on the barista, and isn’t the last, not by a long shot.

“What? I’m serious!” Hide protests, a huge, shit-eating grin on his face. 

Shaking his head, Kaneki relents with a tiny smile, face still flushed, and goes back to making his coffee. “You always say such weird things.”

“Weird?” Hide shrugs. “Seems pretty normal to me. Do your other customers not tell you you make them feel better?” His expression grows serious, and he continues in a faux passionate tone. “Kaneki, don’t tell me I’m the only one!”

Laughing (stars help him, Kaneki was so cute when he smiled, but his laugh did something funny to Hide’s tummy), Kaneki shakes his head. He pours the espresso into a to-go cup and adds the milk, slowly, allowing the foam to float.

“No, no, you’re the only one, surprisingly enough.”

Hide shakes his head in mock disappointment.

“The world we live in,” Hide says. He can tell by the weight of the cup that the cappuccino is on the wet side, but he handles it like myrrh, exchanging money for service without a single complaint. 

Kaneki watches with fond amusement as Hide inhales the rich, earthy aroma of the espresso before taking a sip. 

_“Delizioso!”_ Hide declares, eliciting a giggle from Kaneki. He tries to look up different Italian expressions to delight Kaneki and hasn’t been let down once. 

There’s a bit of foam on the very tip of his nose; Hide feigns confusion when Kaneki smirks and points at his face. 

“You’ve got a little something--” Kaneki says, leaning over the counter, a single deft finger delicately removing the white fluff. The brush of skin on skin feels like fireworks exploding beneath his face, but in a colorful, warm sort of way. 

Hide can feel the blush blossoming across his face, and he prays the electricity fails then and there, because the lighting in this cafe is doing him no favors; he might as well be a frickin’ traffic signal.

The answering flush on Kaneki’s pale cheeks only confirms it, but what disarms Hide most is the goddamn smirk Kaneki’s sporting. He’s so flustered himself, he can’t appreciate the sight as much as he’d like to.

“You can’t just--” Hide sputters, at a loss. His plan backfired tremendously. That never happens! “You--you shouldn’t--”

His back hits the door; he hadn’t even know he’d been moving, clutching his cappuccino like a lifeline. 

Kaneki’s smirk blooms into a warm smile, the red on his cheeks cooling to a pale pink, a positively fetching color on him.

“Come back soon!”

Back outside in the chilly pre-dawn air, Hide wills his heartbeat to resemble something closer to that of a human rather than a rabbit. An impossible feat.

_God, I’ve created a monster._

The rising sun spears the sky with tendrils of light; birds chirp and sing, greeting the new day; his cappuccino is hot and delicious; the lingering heat on his cheeks fades into a pleasant warmth.

He might just love mornings.

**Author's Note:**

> there might be more but this has been sitting in my drafts since feb so maybe not


End file.
